The black arms extending from the Witch’s feet looked terribly similar to Petelgeuse’s Unseen Hands. But they differed in that while Subaru could easily avoid the Unseen Hands once he saw them, the Witch’s hands rushed with a speed nearly impossible to avoid.

And so, in the matter of an instant, Subaru’s eyes saw himself being enveloped by shadow and lifted high over the treetops, before being pulled back down in front of the Witch at a speed faster than freefall.
The whole course of the attack happened faster than his consciousness could process, and the upheaval of his organs from the sudden lurch sent vomit spouting from his lips.

[Subaru: Ough, hu……gh]

Unable to keep his consciousness straight, his vision spun round and round.
His feet were off the ground, and his entire body felt like it was wrapped in something soft and cloth-like. Although his bondage wasn’t tight, his movements were completely sealed, and he couldn’t find a single point where he could apply force to break out.

He tried struggling from the tips of his fingers to his toes, but only the part above his neck responded to his commands, while the rest all yielded to the enshrouding shadow.
At last, with his vision clearing, Subaru’s throat froze as he caught the vast, shadowy mass within his sight.

――Before his eyes, as in right up against his eyes, the Witch stood so close that he could almost feel her breathing.

Having caught him in her shadowy shroud, she was observing him at an extremely close range with undeviating eyes as if they were boring into his skin.
His head was held in place so that he couldn’t escape that gaze. Perhaps he could shut it out if he just closed his eyes, but somehow, even that was forbidden when his eyes met the Witch of Envy’s.

{???: I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you}

Syllable by syllable, same as before, the Witch continued her profession of love.
Hearing those words, despite having been overwhelmed into silence, the spirit of rebellion flared up in Subaru once again.
Injecting strength into his immobile limbs, he widened his eyes, glaring back at the Witch. Then, opening his mouth to resume the barrage of insults,

[Subaru: It’s not a matter of distance. It’s that you don’t mean anything in my heart at all――]

{???: I love you. I love you. ――Love me}

Hearing his answer, there was a pause in the Witch’s voice.
Subaru furrowed his brows and blinked, wondering if he had misheard it. And seeing Subaru’s reaction, the Witch slightly lifted her head,

Suddenly shivering, for the very first time, Subaru felt pure and genuine terror towards the Witch.
His heart, which he had managed to distract with rage and rebellion up to now―― was suddenly stripped bare in the face of the Witch’s reworded calls.

Resolving not to falter no matter what she does or say, he had forced himself to keep his head held high.
Facing off the Witch of Envy, he thought he had understood the root cause of her obstinance.

But that meager courage and overhasty conclusion were both pulverized into dust.

Aberration. Deviant. Lunatic. Love to the point of madness. Criminal. Murderer. Witch.

Understanding that her continued whispers of love would receive none in return, this time, she was requesting love through brute force. Rather than greed, it was more along the lines of shallowness.
And there, he realized it.

The Witch desired Natsuki Subaru, but she wasn’t seeing Natsuki Subaru at all.

What the Witch saw wasn’t Subaru, but the vessel named “Natsuki Subaru”. She wanted a superficial Subaru, and wished to be loved by a superficial Subaru. Whether or not his feelings were genuine was no concern of hers.
To love Natsuki Subaru, and be loved by Natsuki Subaru.
That was the Witch of Envy’s entirety, and her reason for destroying the world.

――It made no sense at all.

Understanding this much, the question in Subaru’s chest was right back to where it started.
That is, why was the Witch so obsessed with him in the first place?

They’ve never met or talked before. In fact, this was the first time they’d actually seen each other.
So why in the world would she be so madly in love with him?
He had no idea. There was no logic to it at all. It’d be easy to say that love was never something to be measured by common sense, but the Witch’s love had taken that to an entirely different level.

The Witch was mistaking superficial love for the genuine one.
Chances were, if Subaru just said the words, the Witch would have released him from his bondage.
If this was the usual sly, crafty, pragmatic Subaru, he might have even replied with some cringeworthy, grandiloquent response to her professions of love.
But,

[Subaru: ――I hate you]

[???: ――――]

[Subaru: I am never, going to love you]

Pronouncing this rejection from his very soul, Subaru refused the Witch of Envy’s request.

[???: ――――]

Hearing this answer, the Witch fell silent once again.
Not many humans could claim to have dashed a Witch’s hopes so many times like this. Subaru derived a small, pointless gratification from this fact. And then, his altitude slowly began to drop.

Wrapped in his shadowy shroud, Subaru’s body that was held in the air was slowly lowered to the ground. But it was not in order to release him.
Still restrained, starting from the tips of his toes, he was being dragged beneath the Witch’s feet――little by little, swallowed into the center of the vortex.

Realizing that she couldn’t obtain his heart, the Witch had decided to consume him instead. A rather short-circuited and overly materialistic idea.
There, while everything below his knees was swallowed into the shadow, with his mind tormented by the terror of the gradual loss of sensation, a sudden doubt struck him.

If he was swallowed like this, Subaru would no doubt lose his life.
So in a sense, it might be good to give up here. Embracing “Death” would be his last, half-ditched resistance against the Witch. So maybe it’d be alright if he just let himself be swallowed.
But,

――All of his “Deaths” so far had been reversed by the powers of the Witch, but if the Witch herself killed him, would he really be able to come back?

[Subaru: ――――!]

The moment he realized this, Subaru began his belated resistance. With the lower half of his body already swallowed into the shadow, such efforts were only naive and futile. Yet he had no choice but to try.
Come to think of it, even before the question of whether he could return, he wasn’t even sure if being swallowed by the Witch would actually kill him. What if he becomes a part of the Witch after being pulled into that shadow, and ends up spending eternity without being granted the permission to die?
Over that long, long timespan, all his current resolve and determination would whittle away, and then, would he bend to the Witch in the end? Subaru wasn’t confident enough to say that he wouldn’t. Therefore he mustn’t allow himself to be swallowed.

In the worst case, he would commit suicide by biting off his tongue before he could fall into the Witch’s hands―― but,

[Subaru: ――uu, huh?]

That resolve was prematurely cut off by a scalding sensation on his chest.

Feeling a rising heat burning the left side of his chest, Subaru looked down to see what was happening. And there, he saw a light coming from the heat, seeping through the darkness that was enshrouding his body.
What was even more surprising was that beginning from the source of that light, the Witch’s shadow was slowly vanishing as if melting away.

[Subaru: If this……!]

Before his mind could even process what this abrupt burst of light may be, Subaru twisted his body, using the light to slice through the shroud of shadows. The range of his movements widened as he shredded through the shroud, and, confirming that his arms were free, he immediately reached for the source of that light.
Grasping it between his fingertips, what he retrieved from his chest was a napkin, fluttering in the wind―― with a grey cat embroidered on top. It was Petra’s handkerchief.

[Subaru: Why would this……nevermind!!]

Putting off his thoughts for later, Subaru swung his arm with the handkerchief in hand. Obeying Subaru’s will, the supposedly soft fabric took on an astounding resilience, and, with the sharpness of a razor it severed the bond between the Witch and the ground.

[???: ――――]

[Subaru: Woah! If this thing……alright!!]

Subaru stabbed the handkerchief-blade into the mass of darkness that swallowed the lower half of his body.
Burying the tip of the shining handkerchief into the shade, for a moment, the shadows rushed to envelop the light, but, without a sound, they burst apart in an instant.
With the shadows scattered away, all that remained were Subaru’s two feet landing on the ground.

Immediately stumbling backwards, he confirmed that both his legs were still there. Then, readying the handkerchief at his hips, Subaru ran his eyes over the shining piece of cloth.
Petra’s embroidered handkerchief. It was hard to imagine that her feelings for Subaru could have such miraculous qualities. But there, Subaru’s mind turned to the one who must have done something to this handkerchief.

[Subaru: That Echidona…… did she already know this was going to happen?]

“Just for insurance, insurance” he could almost hear the white-haired Witch saying.
In the dreamworld, at the closing of the tea party, Echidona had taken this handkerchief as her payment. He had never actually considered what would happen if a real world object was given away in a dream――but if this was the result of her tampering, then it really is possible to influence reality from within a dream.
In any case,

Faced with the fact that her shadows had been destroyed, the Witch only stood there, stupefied. Seeing this opening, Subaru drew in a short breath and lunged to the Witch’s side――

[Subaru: Careless to a fault!]

――and thrust the handkerchief towards the frozen Witch’s flank. The Witch didn’t move an inch. But the shadows at her feet shot out in self-defense, activating the protective “dress”, as Garfiel called it.

[Subaru: ――RuuaaaaAAAAGH!]

Yet it did nothing to stop the handkerchief’s light.
Like a sharpened dagger, the handkerchief pierced through the shadowy dress, thrusting straight for the side of the Witch’s face――and struck true.

[Subaru: Got her――!]

The unmistakable sensation in his hand prompted him to cry out in joy, as Subaru turned, reining the same momentum into another backslash against the Witch――

[Subaru: ――Eh?]

But he stopped, when he saw it.
The Witch stood there, unmoving, looking at Subaru. The shining thrust to the side of her face had indeed landed, and had peeled away the vast, shadowy veil, revealing her face.

It was a familiar, silver-haired girl with eyes of frozen emotion staring back at Subaru.

[Subaru: Emilia……?]

She did not respond to his call. But everything else set off into massive motion.
The shadowy shroud returned. The previously-eradicated darkness beneath his feet wound around Subaru’s body once more, and this time, it constricted him without mercy, causing him to shriek.

Starting from the right side of his ribs to the entire left half of his body, the shadow restrained him tightly in its grasp. Only his right arm, still holding onto the handkerchief, could still move, albeit barely, being denied the full range of its motions.
And, just like this, the immobilized Subaru was steadily pulled beneath the sea of shadows. Without a trace of hesitation, it was far faster than the last time.

First, was his lower body, and then his left shoulder submerged as well, until only his head and the right portion of his chest were still above ground.
Desperately lifting his head, resisting with his sinking body,

[Subaru: Emilia! Emilia!? Wh, how did this.. why!?]

When he saw her missing from the Tomb and the Sanctuary engulfed by shadows, Subaru had thought that she was swallowed by the Witch.
At least then, his resistance against the Witch of Envy up to now would have had some meaning.

――But why was she the one wearing that shadow, attacking the Sanctuary?

He didn’t have an answer. Nor would she answer him. She didn’t see Subaru at all. A never-before-seen coldness gleamed in her violet eyes, and Subaru couldn’t be sure if her consciousness was still there.
There wasn’t even enough time to find out.

[Subaru: Gh, u, ah……]

His body was dragged deeper and deeper into the shadow.
He couldn’t feel a thing in his swallowed body. It wouldn’t be so bad if it was only a lack of sensation, but the fact that even the sense of existence was lost forced him to reassess the danger of being swallowed here.

Confirming that the handkerchief was still in his right hand, the only part of his body he could still move, his resolve was settled.
The white-haired Witch flashed across his mind once more.
He would like to amend his previous statement, and instead raise a complaint to that Witch.

[Subaru: Did that bastard Echidona seriously know it’ll turn out like this……?]

If that were the case, he’d be so moved by her scrupulous consideration that his eyes would tear up.
With tears of blood, that is――

――Closing his eyes, when he opened them again, Subaru stabbed the handkerchief into his own throat.
The sharpened point pierced into his flesh, and bore open a hole in the vital regions of his throat. Blood flooded down his windpipe and into his lungs, drowning his consciousness in red.

Suicide. The Witch of Greed had equipped him for precisely this opportunity.
It wasn’t to resist the Witch of Envy. She knew that their conversation in the Citadel would set her off. And here, she exacted her toll.

{???: ――――!}

Seeing Subaru commit suicide, for the first time, an emotion other than love detonated in the Witch of Envy.
But, drowning in his own blood, Subaru’s already-detached consciousness wasn’t aware of this.

Only, seeing the girl’s familiar face twisted in grief, regardless of what was residing inside her, it still pained his heart all the same to see her like this――

His throat was filled with blood, making it difficult to formulate speech. But even so, Subaru spoke, not to the counterfeit residing in her vessel, but to the girl.

it wasn’t in order to save Rem. First, it was because he couldn’t bear to see Ram like that. Second, he wanted to be close with Emilia and in order to do this, he had to fix things at the mansion and somehow find a way to melt the ice between him and Rem. But it was definitely not for Rem’s sake.

Fan theory. Emilia becomes the witch of envy in the future because of subaru’s unreasonable love towards her. She somehow gains time powers, or her ice powers evolved enough to allow her to “freeze” moments in time for subaru to go back to.

In my humble opinion The first time Subaru asks the Silver haired HAlf elfs name she was so anxious to talk to subaru that shel told him her true name ” Sattela” thats why Puck got so surprised , for me Emilia and lewes are Just dolls that the real satella uses to play around outside of the Seal thats why the witch can get rid of then whenever she wants….and i fell like they know about it.

I remember the sin of sloth said that Emilia needs to have trails and whether she passes them or not it does not matter I think the witch of envy is reincarnated by a vessel of a half elf human and the witch of envy becomes influenced by Emilia’s love for Subaru after she takes control of her

Like B-kun observantly pointed out RBD seems to be the key. We know through the loop where Satella killed Emilia in Arc 3 that she can physically interact with world if Subaru has enough miasma built up. Emilia probably got possessed from flaring up his miasma massively when he kept talking to Echidna.

Ok… i theory i had from the very beginning is, that emilia play a major role in the resurrection of the witch… that maybe emilia will be her vessel and maybe subaru will actually be the one summoning her into emilia for some desperate reason… and that the witch is making subaru fall in love with emilia, so that she will finally be (genuinely) loved once she takes over emilia – and maybe also to create that desperate situation which causes her resurrection in the first place….

That theory, however, i had long forfeited after the witch had killed emilia in one loop where he told her about Returb by Death…

Now my question: Do you think its reasonable to believe that the witch only killed emilia in knowing, that subaru is gonna die anyway and emilias death will be undone by RbD? Or is it unlikely that – just for teaching him a leason – the whitch would kill somebody who is so vital for her resurection?

I think the Witch has no intention on resurrecting. She is not dead yet. Her only concern might be Subaru and Subaru alone.
Emilia just kinda was there sleeping when the Witch arrived on Subaru’s calling. Subaru was out, so she just assumed control of the most suitable vessel.

Subaru’s line “I will definitely save you” is the main point, epilogue of arc 4. The everlasting covenant literally translates to “The forever lasting promise” and that was his promise towards satella. That he will definitely save her. Further hints out his connection to flugel some more don’t you think ?

I knew it! Emilia is way too innocent. Ever since I finished the anime I knew Emilia is related to Satella, I mean when she first met Subaru she gave him that name. Plus their meeting was kind of too coincidental.
*Or,* I think this is more likely, Emilia is Satellas vessel. A half elf is someone susceptible to the Witch of Envy’s influence. Maybe even her former shell? Too deep? Idk I just knew Emilia is way too good to be true.
Ignore my rambling xD
Thanks chicken-sama for the excellent translations <~3

Also, In my mind I had thought that the reason why Emilia told Subaru her name was Satella when he came into the world was because she was wary of him and thought he would back off. When they got to the loot house Emilia said she would aplologize to him after he gets the insigina back but in the end thry had died.

Now that I think about it, it’s ironic that before she pretended to Satella but now she’s channeling Satella. Also, where is Puck in all of this? Talk about a terrible guardian spirit. Someone hand me a hockey stick.

duuuuude it’s from the anime. Also, everyone should already know the witch of envy looks exactly like Emilia- pretty sure it says that in like the first 5 eps in the anime – so not necessarily spoiler since you should know that

I see all the Emilia comments, yet remind yourself that Satella looks exactly like Emilia in reality. I can see her being taken over by Satella, but i wouldnt be so hasty about it, knowing that Satella actually looks like Emilia.

But sadly there’s not much wiggle room if Satella truly has some hidden history with Subaru. The two most obvious explanations would be either time travel or some tomfoolery with reincarnation(on both Emilia and Subaru’s part).

I perso think that Subaru has a past with Satella tbh, in what form dunno, if i would guess its a past life 400 years ago. Dont think Time travel has anything to do with it. And i also believe Emilia has nothing to do with it, since Satella had no problems with it to kill her, would make no sense if she would kill ,,herself,,. As we know, Satella’s Body still exists, so as her soul. In the sense of time travel, having 2 in one timeline doesnt work and a reincarnation also doesnt work since she didnt die.

So many thoughts running through my mind. I heard some theories on how emilia is the witch of envy who went back in time. However, I don’t see how emilia could return over 400 years into the past. Although it would explain her obsessive behaviour towards Subaru as well as why she choose him. Unfortunately, I see too many questions that would need to be addressed before this could even be considered possible. Therefore, I will keep it on the side as a wierd idea. A lot of people seem to doubt whether that was truly emilia or not since satella looks identical or almost to emilia. I do believe it is emilia just because of the grieved expression at the end of the chapter. I believe that Emilia was possessed and still conscious of what her body was doing. I believe that suicide was unaticpated by the witch and that it shock her long enough for Emilia’s emotion to reach Subaru. I also think Satella took over Emilias body after subaru’ s numerous TBD calls while with echidona. The reason being that echidona pretty much kicked her out lol and Emilia as already known as a vessel for her revival. Consequently, it might be very easy for her to take control of emilia especially when her consciousness was off in The trail and her body lay there defenseless . I am really excited to see where the story will go to, but I think that Emilia will become the witch of envy and Subaru will be the cause. As I read in another post maybe Satella is influencing subaru’s feeling toward Emilia such that when she takes the Body she hopes to have that “superficial ” love from Subaru. However, we can keep speculating but the author could go any which way at this point so I am just eagerly waiting for the next part.

Also Chicken-sama, I think that by November of next year Yen On will reach Arc 4(or the end of 3) and relatively speaking Yen On are rather quick and may catch up to your translations of Arc 4 since there is still about 2/3 to go. At that point do you think you will stop Arc 4 translations and move on to translating Arc 5?

Indeed, the time travel theory sounds just dumb. But I do think that there has to be more of a connection between Satella and Subaru than just Satella’s one-sided and insane love. There has to be a reason for that love and considering that Subaru wasn’t much of a special person in the past I hardly believe that Satella would just look out for someone in another world and transport him on a whim in addition to giving him a huge asset like Return by Death, which is in fact extremely powerful, in addtition to that it seems to indicate that Satella has a certain amount of control over the flow of time, otherwise it can be hardly explained why she can help Subaru in such a way despite being sealed. Whether Satella is Emilia or she’s just possesing her is difficult to say, but I would rather think that she’s possessing her.
I’m also curious whether Satella can put more thought into her words or is it that everything she’s capable of, until now Satella is somewhat of a disappointment, I was sure that she’s a cunning strategist that was also directing Subaru’s growth and development, soI still hope that she will show a “better” side of herself to Subaru, otherwise the chances for SubaruxSatella are really bad.

I agree, i felt like Satella was a bit like a child desperately seeking attention. However, it might be because she is sealed away and that she has limited capability that was only able to appear as a manifestation of her desires, she is envy after all. Similar to how echidona can manifest herself to subaru when he is in desperate need of knowledge ( explained at the end of last tea party) but has a bit more headway since she is in her domain. I am pretty sure that there is more to Satella than a freaky obsessive lover.

>I agree, i felt like Satella was a bit like a child desperately seeking attention. However, it might be because she is sealed away and that she has limited capability that was only able to appear as a manifestation of her desires, she is envy after all.

This is exactly where my head was at. Satella doesn’t seem to stack up next to any of the other witches, at all. Even the one’s we’ve only had limited interactions with during that one tea party. I’m definitely chalking it up to her abilities being limited / restricted in her current “form”.

I can’t see Tappei dropping the ball in terms of the way he writes Satella as a character. He’s done such a great job of “endearing us” to characters, especially someone like Echidona / Echidna, who for all intents and purposes is somebody the readers should be scared of / leery of but we just can’t help loving her.

While I don’t think that the readers are going to be so quick to fall for Satella as we did Echidona / Echidna I still have the sneaking suspicion that Satella is going to be written in a way where we’ll be able to empathize with her on some level. Even if it’s a very acute level considering all of the terrible things she’s done. She IS a witch, but what caused her to be such an evil one? She is a witch, but are her feelings for Subaru warranted or purely a symptom of her ‘Envy’?

Maybe, it’s exactly bc Subaru is such a good-for-nothing person, that Satella choose him: He is totally reliant on her – without RbD he is nothing… that makes him super easy to control (whatever she is plotting to do with him)

Why did she need to go search in another world? Maybe bc no one in their world would ever fall in love with her (or a silver haired half elf).

Maybe it could also have something to do with the 7 deadly sins… could it be that Subaru has committed or harbors all of them? We have all seen how trash he can be sometimes…..

I definitely get the feeling that her reason(s) for picking and loving Subaru are going to be rooted in something that comprises his make-up, something like his NEET-ness, as you say, is a perfect candidate.

I think it’s going to be something that on the surface will be easy to reject but given that Subaru knows in his heart that the reason she chose him is “real” will create conflict within him. I can’t see her having no good reason at all or some made up / bullshit reason for going to such lengths or seemingly picking Subaru at random.

There has to be some connection. There has to be some sort of thread tying the reasoning all together otherwise it would be nothing but contrived and I don’t see the story suddenly falling off of that cliff in terms of narrative quality.

Also, lets not forget that Subaru apparently isn’t the only one being summoned to that world.. I think somewhere in the anime it’s said, that occasionally there are ppl claiming to come from i-dont-know-where, which is supposed to be impossible and, therefore are shrug off as lies by the public…
However, we are rather certain that Al is also not from that world.. thus, we might assume that there is a far larger amount of ppl which have been summoned to that world – in the past and concurrently.

Now by looking at Al’s condition, what if he was just a sore looser like Subaru? and his contract with the which/the summoner involved the tribute of a limb for saving a beloved person / RbD? Actually, what if he has/had just the same contract as Subaru, but he was often put in a situation where he could only save his princess by shielding her with his own body?

I think this could somehow tie the circumstances of Lugnica* to the summoning and role of Subaru

*) i.e. the disappearance of the dragon and royalties, the royal selection, the Sages, Satella and the Witches

Although I think that the point of other people besides Subaru being summoned into that world is interesting, it doesn’t explain why she chose him. There are quite a few witch cultists that would do anything for Satella and most of them are far more capable than Subaru, at least in terms of fighting power. Also, as it was mentioned by Echidona, the vast majority of people wouldn’t be able to stay sane if they would face the absolute strength of his enemies and the dozens of times he died.
It really seems to indicate that Satella already knew Subaru before, otherwise it would be impossible for her to have a positive assessment of him and on top of that, the very fact that Subaru has the neccesary determination to pull through all that makes him a bit too unique to just be “someone”, that Satella would randomly rely on. I’m still absolutely convinced that Subaru and Satella have a considerably private relationship.
An idea of me would be that Subaru doesn’t remember Satella, because it is part of a conract, the same way as it was with the first tea party of Echidona, Subaru was unable to remember it and Echidona herself mentioned something about the similiarity between her contract and another contract that Subaru made, but is unable to rememeber it.
The only problem that effectively contradicts the foundation of that theory is Satella’s extreme behaviour, if she planned all of this in order to reach a future of happiness for both Subaru and herself, she should be far more reserved and calm. She also should be more intimate with Subaru, at the moment it is still difficult to say how exactly the relationship of these two was/ is and to what extent, Satella is one-sidedly loving Subaru or Subaru just forgot his feelings for Satella due to an unknown reason (like for example a contract).

“Tappei Nagatsuki have said *his interview that Emilia isnt Satella”
I have heard it from Angelo Gabrini who the light novel knows. He have written on his comment that Satella and EMT are different people. I dont know why do some people so? Satella is elder than Emilia. Satella has 4000 years but Emilia has 108 years. They are exactly different people

I feel like this chapter does a lot to support my theory that Rem is Envy. She calls him “Subaru-kun”. She’s completely obsessed with him. She’s willing to use force to make him love her. Obviously Rem isn’t normally like this but I think having her mind/soul messed with by Gluttony is going to cause some nasty side effects. We’ve already seen behavior like this from Rem on a much smaller scale. She tricks Subaru into saying he loves her, she spikes his tea with something similar to a roofie, she creeps on him when he’s sleeping, and her last wish before fighting Gluttony was “I wish when he realizes I am gone, it could cause a small ripple in his heart.” which is a little messed up, especially considering how much pain it causes him.

Rem is envy? I hope this is joke lol… Rem is devil, isnt witch. Satella is a witch of envyand she is stronger than everyone. Also, Rem hair is blue but Satella hair is silver i mean Rem isnt Satella. Please think logical about it….

We see she’s capable of taking over Emilia in this chapter. It’s possible the only reason “Satella” is known as a silver haired half elf is because “Envy” chooses to take over people that she thinks Subaru would love. “Envy” can be anything so her appearance doesn’t matter at all.

you say that “Satella can be anything” then explain if Satella can be anything, then why did her appearance Rem become ? She knows that Subaru loves Rem too…..
Satella is a half elf, isnt devil. Only half elves can be envy. Even Echidna hates Emilia because of it who Satella looks like…..
Better search about it

You know what. I’ve never thought about that but this chapter sort of made me think about the main question Subaru asked:

“Why does this witch love me so much? What did I do?”

Emilia obviously has feelings for Subaru and he knows it — even if it’s not a perfectly ideal relationship in his eyes (not that it’s bad, just that he prob wants more ;P )

Naturally everyone is going to compare the witch and Emilia, even without this chapter’s image. I love the misdirection you talk about because think of it… It’s almost perfectly in line with manga, anime, and light novels for fans to be truly upset when the “best girl” that the MC should have loved most and gotten with winds up in 2nd place to some other character. I don’t think anyone left the first anime season thinking Rem wasn’t truly loving and caring for Subaru, but her dedication was much closer to Satella’s than Emilia’s.

Thanks so much for stoking that flame, I’m not sure I’m going with this 100% but it’s still cool to think about!

It all came from the original WN. Her tricking him happened after the fight with the whale, she pretended to be dying causing him to panic and say he loved her. The tea thing was in an extra chapter called “King” or “King’s Game”(I’ve seen it called both, not sure which is accurate). Her creeping on him happened in another extra chapter “Rem’s Very Ordinary Happy Day”. She walked into his room and stared at him while he was sleeping and ended up with some of his saliva on her finger and considered putting it in her mouth. Then obviously her wish before her fight with Gluttony at the end of arc 3. The extra chapters happen between arcs 2 and 3 and are all confirmed canon, Roswaal even mentions something that happens in the King chapter early in arc 4. It’s mostly played off as a sort of gag but I think it still shows some unhealthy behavior from Rem towards Subaru. I believe it’s the kind of behavior that could escalate to what we see from Envy this chapter if her mind were to be corrupted by Gluttony’s magic or something like that.

Wow.. That was an awesome chapter..
So, Satella can actually possess Emilia.. this is very interesting, and very creepy.. Surprised that it was Emilia under that shadowy veil. I was hoping that Subaru could finally see Satella’s real face, but oh well that surprise was really good as well. Really excited to the day when Satella would show her real face to Subaru and maybe a hug would be great too ^^ ok i definitely want Satella to one day do that to him, hehe ^^
And nice save by the cunning Echidona ❤ for giving Subaru a means to escape by death.. Hope Subaru will not be so hard on her or get repulsed by her in the next life.

well emilia is a vessel for her so i guess that after subaru blabbered about RBD, the shadowy hands first killed emilia (like it happened in the anime) and then after he blabbered some more, its was rnough for the witch to manifest inside the dead emilia

I thought of a theory myself, What if before Subaru arrived at the Appa stand, what if he was there before, I’m thinking it might have been possible that time between worlds runs differently and what If Subaru somehow managed to stop or help stop Satella from covering the world in shadow, and that this is part of the memory Emilia has that is eluded too about what she remembers for the trial, what if Emilia and Satella are the same person but Emilia only has some memories while Satella is her with them all, the fact that Subaru stopped her might be the cause for the love? Then him returning to the “real” world and somehow loosing his memories, and what if the wait for him to return drove her insane?
-I know this is all a long stretch but that’s what I started thinking of at least.

I think it is a lil bit too far stretched… but actually thats a good idea, let’s go back to his first RbD…

The big question here is: what kind of contract has he made with the Witch on Envy and when did he do that?

I’m just thinking, maybe he did that contract on the verge of his first death? We know very well, he actually is a good-for-nothing… and such an immortality skill like RbD must have sound really great to him… However, what exactly were the conditions? So far we know:
1) it takes him only as far back as really necessary in order to escape the fate of death
2) he is not allowed to talk about it
3) if he breaks the contract’s condition, then it will have some negative consequences*
4) he has obviously forgotten about every detail of their contract and their meeting
5) probably there are more conditions we don’t know about yet…

*) I think there is more to it, then just his death penalty or the death of the person he told it to. I actually think, that the penalty for Subaru breaking his contract is the very reason why the Which of Envy has made this proposal in the first place.. Also note, that the consequences for him breaking the contract are always more drastic… does it mean the witch becomes more powerful bc of it?

I think this contract is maybe all a big gamble, either leading to the resurrection of the Whitch or Subarus immortality. Surely, bc of Subarus pride never to give up, he could not imagine a situation where he could not avoid the Whitch’s resurrection as long as he can RbD.
On the other hand, there was nearly no motivation for the slothful and sly Subaru to accept such a deal either. That is, if he has been proposed with that deal at the beginning or even before his arrival in the new world. So that’s why I think it must have happened during his first death..

I only wonder, how the very beginning of the story is told in the light novel… Bc in the Anime it begins with him promising to save her – and only then he is summoned to the parallel world… that would rly only seem possible if some sort of time/dimension paradoxon took place.. and that’s probably what gave so much headwind to those theories….
But is that also true in the light novel? Or was it just to make the anime start more interesting? Would you be able to confirm that, chicken-sama?

This line close to the beginning :
{???: I Iove you. I Iove you. I Iove you. I Iove you. I Iove you}

Also, not sure if this has been mentioned before, but are you aware of the completed Arc 4 translation by Mr. Anon? I was just thinking that maybe you can use that translation to speed up Arc 4’s release; maybe fit it to your style a bit? Up to you, but thanks anyways!

Theory with spoilers.
Someone else had a theory that Subaru was Flugel, having been summoned to the world by Satella over 400 years ago, and that the current Subaru is a copy of the original, made from the moment of his arrival. My mind kind of took off from there.
1. Subaru was summoned to this world by Satella, probably accidentally, prior to the time she took in the witch genes of Envy. Conjecture: she was chosen specifically to be the successor to the previous Witch of Envy and was seeking out the strength to take on that role, and that’s where Subaru was drawn in.
2. Subaru and Satella were together for some time after that, first since Satella felt obligated to care for this person whose fault was hers in being there, and then because she realized she did feel stronger with him. Over weeks and months, the two of them fell in love.
3. Seeking to become better able to help Satella, Subaru turned to the knowledge and wisdom of Echidona, and was quite an adept student. Spoiler: Roswaal was also a student of Echidona. Conjecture: Echidona favored Subaru, not just for his capacity to learn, but also his reason, to help Satella, who was to become one of her sister-Witches. This did not sit well with the more selfish interests of Roswaal, who wanted to learn to make himself greater and to impress Echidona, who he was feeling a one-sided love for.
4. Prior to Satella taking on the role of Envy, Roswaal tampered with the genes, seeking to control their power and somehow influence Echidona this way. This did not work out at all, as the power of Envy went way out of control, fracturing Satella’s mind and creating Witch of Envy as another personality, to the point of nearly having a life of its own.
5. After Satella/Envy was sealed away, Subaru had one goal: find a way to separate Satella from Witch of Envy and free her. Now, without the other witches, he turned to his “friend” Roswaal to determine how to do this. They could not find a solution before Roswaal’s “death” though. Spoiler: Roswaal passed his existence on through his descendants. Subaru still visits the family of his past friend though.
6. Subaru finds that he will not die, and that he isn’t even aging. Whether this is a gift of Satella or Envy, he can’t tell, but he’ll use it to keep seeking a solution. Roswaal, at some point through his generations, convinces Subaru of an insane plan: find a suitable host for Satella and draw her into it, separating her from her cursed body and the Witch of Envy. Thus, Subaru establishes the Witch Cult as the Archebishop of Pride.
7. Satella, meanwhile, tries to hold on to her existence, drawing strength from her love for Subaru. Envy, a twisted reflection, draws from this as well, and that love becomes the entirety of its existence. These chapters exemplified that idea.
8. Subaru, as Pride, tries as best he can to control a growing madness he sees in the Cult. Their actions become more extreme over time (I’m still blaming Roswaal on this. Is thinking of him as a villain unfounded?) A breaking point comes when the current Roswaal informs him of a Cult attack on a village of Oni. He arrives in time to save the only survivors, Ram and Rem, who he asks Roswaal to take under his care. Roswaal agrees, naturally, since he had what he wanted: the horn of the unusually powerful Oni child he’d heard of, leading him to initiate the attack on that village.
9. The last bit is a little unclear regarding exactly what happened. Most likely, after Subaru learned of Emilia, he realised that he found the host he’d been searching for. Before he could actually get to rescuing Satella, however, the Authority of Gluttony was used on him, robbing him of his centuries of memory, and also making his existence forgotten to everyone.

There are holes in this of course. Did Beatrice never meet him before, because she should be able to remeber him if so. Does Roswaal remember him? He’s tricky. Hard to tell. If he did know Echidona, is she also subject to forgetting someone whose Name is consumed? Then there’s Shaula from Arc 6. Spoiler: she refers to Subaru as teacher, apparently because he smells like her teacher, Flugel. Remember how Rems actions clearing Mabeasts from the town were attributed to Subaru? Subaru’s actions, teaching Shaula, and possibly planting the great tree, are now attributed to Flugel instead. It’s both evidence and hole to the theory, given that she should have forgotten Subaru entirely, but she’s an unusually powerful character, and smell is an unusually powerful part of memory. And Then there’s Betelgeuse, who directly asked if Subaru was Pride, the only Archbishop whose seat was empty. What an interesting question.

Yeah, that’s another issue as well. If he’d been there that long, and Memory and Name were taken, then with his clothes and held items being the same would make that situation very purposeful. He was meant to believe he’d only just arrived. It makes the theorized circumstances much harder to figure out.

I really do like your theory regardless of the potential plotholes. I always considered it the big mystery to be a big timeloop or reincarnation. Never even considered just straight memory loss with a never aging body.

I feel like if that’s the case though then Subaru wiped his memory on purpose. If he really planted that tree, I think he did it with the express knowledge that it will be useful later against the white whale. It’s also possible that his history in this parallel world dates even further back than 400 years; the names of the witches refer to celestial objects that don’t exist in the land of Re Zero. Satella itself could be a reference to the word ‘satellite’ as well.

I really like what you said here . ( Just want to point out 3 , 4 and 5 put more holes than they close and are not connected very well ) .

The rest of the points are really good , and especially the 7 ,8 and 9 .
The 7th point is really possible and in my opinion it is going to be the explanation on Satella’s attitude .
While I would like the 8th to come true , especially if Subaru wasn’t send to this world when we saw him but rather much further back without our knowledge . But I believe it is said on the novels clearly that Rosswall saved them , and Rosswall really didn’t seem to know who Subaru is before he came in his mansion . Also it would make Subaru a pedo , in the twilight kind of way .

I was going to say that I like point 9 the most .It would actually fill the problem with Rosswall not remembering him , and it would also explain why Rosswall is said to save Rem and Ram ( if it ended up being said that Subaru did it . Since the story was changed from the authority )
But there is a big problem .
Wouldn’t Subaru go into a coma ? And saying that RBD and Witch of Envy saved him it is a big ass-pull right .

And since you know spoilers you also know that Gluttony powers are not needed for someone to not be able to remember something .

It seems so long ago that I said I wanted to specifically see 4-5 moments in arc 4 .
We have seen most of them .

Like you know the scenes that would be really good animated . Like this one , the other scene where Echidna is talking with Subaru after the first trial , and Satella is in the teachers chair , but we only find out about that after Subaru leaves .

So if I don’t count some epic chats between some characters that I really want to see , I believe 1 really epic moment is left on my list . It is going to be sooo good . Prob will comment again on that when you get there , chicken .

Just logged in again to see if i had any reply and noticed that the comment above ( from Jacob Canfield ) still had his spoilers inside .
Well seems like no one has a problem , probably because it is too long to read and most people will not bother 😀

I personally have no problem about spoilers but since many people have you should probably sensor it chicken , since it spoils some stuff for Rosswall and the latest arc 6 chapter .

Well I’m a just gonna say something that may be a spoiler. I’m probably wrong though like way off but

I once saw a certain image pertaining to Re:zero of a sliver haired elf carrying a child on her back who was also a sliver haired elf with an apparent green haired father following them from behind in a city. Also I do remember Roswall and Beako owning a book of the witch. What I draw from this information and this chapter is (drum roll please)

That Emilia is the child of the witch of envy and can be possessed by her. Also she was given to Roswall and Beako for care taking as they are loyal servants of the witch.

I don’t know considering all these ideas I’m seeing I’m probably way off. It’ll probably turn out with Puck being a time traveling wizard and Petra being the witch all along. As well Patrasche will most likely turn out to be sage who sealed the witch.

Uh… this maybe too late, but the 愛して (aishite without -ru) conjugation is kinda ambiguous in this case. Yeah normally most of the time it means “love me”, while in itself no clear object of who “to love”. What if that satella was just asking for subaru to love himself too? (It could or could not be a spoiler).

The title is “Labulabulabulabulabume~”, so think “Love me” is appropriate.
I haven’t read ahead so I’m not sure if this would be significant, can you email me privately and let me know what the spoiler is? My email is translationchicken@gmail.com ❤

To two girls at a time. I’m not even sure which place is better – Rem’s or Emilia.
Either you enjoy him flirting with another girl while you are temporarily unavailable, or the fact that he still has a greater progress with a comatose girl rather than with you.

Why is it that the witch of envy seems to be throwing more of a tanturm then any thing I believe it is following more of the emotions of satella. satella probably just wanted to be loved but shunned at the idea of being a half elf kinda like Emilia. I think that eventually satella grew to love some one who looks a lot like Subaru only to have him die so going off of satella inter most emotions finds some one like the guy brings him over and gives him return by death. The witch of Envy’s true goal might not to find a suitable host but to die. I guess in a sense you could call the witch of envy a parasite imagine the tragedy satella must have went through 400 years ago.

Thanks chicken dono.. I kinda figured out why Subaru get the authority of return by Death… He died while saying the exact words to Emelia on his first Death…satella lying dormant inside Emelia was shunned being a witch and for the first in her entire being was there someone that care so much for her so granted him the gift but still being envy.. Pfff jealousy get u doing all sort of mess up thing at least she got the means and power to do so unlike us who can mostly keep in inside lol…I kinda get that return by death thing and envy obsession with barusu… One thing that bugs me who summon him.. Was he just pulled in this parralllel world or summon… Coz after all this there wasn’t even a trace of the one that summon him not one was there a mention about summons and all except for Subaru who knows not the other didn’t seem to give a f not even subaru like y ytf was he summon.. Deducting himself for the cause of Emelia still don’t say that y h is summon he chose to do that..confussss

That. Was. Amazing! I still do not get anything and want to be surprised but amazing! Petra’s handkerchief, how could such a thing get this much power? Echidona can’t have done something to it since she said she couldn’t interfere with reality! So, the power to destroy the witch of envy is true love? Or better, true motivations behind a thing one person really want, opposed to the superficial wants of the witch?
Still, amazing.
Thanks for the emotions!

Wait a minute, if he commits suicide now… that would means the conversation he just had with Echidona and the others in the dream realm would not be remembered by Dona after he RBD? Ahhhh I wanna see more Dona and Subaru flirtings. Don’t make Dona forget it please 😦